


Cracks

by sixtieshairdo



Category: Days of Our Lives
Genre: Arianna doesn't seem to like Sonny very much, Bonding issues, M/M, references to the movie 'Up' aka the best movie in all of animated film history
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-05
Updated: 2013-05-05
Packaged: 2017-12-10 11:06:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/785354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sixtieshairdo/pseuds/sixtieshairdo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sonny has trouble bonding with Arianna Grace.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cracks

I awake with a start, my hand immediately clutching at the warm body next to mine, rousing Will from his sleep.  
  
He looks a wreck and I believe I am no better, what with the late nights we have been having, and I apologise profusely. He rubs a hand over my chest and settles back to sleep almost immediately after. I watch him breathe heavily, my heart still racing, cold sweat making me shiver.  
  
I lay back into my pillow, suddenly unsure.  
  
…  
  
Sometimes it hits me; it has been three years since I found out about Will’s little mishap with Gabi.  
  
It took me a month to forgive him and a day after that to commit myself to this uncertain future.  
  
It didn’t seem quite so frightening back then, to be honest. Even with Nick’s bigotry and blackmail, I never doubted a minute of this choice I had made. I was Will’s anchor and he looked at me like I am Superman every time I prove to him a little more just how invested I was in this relationship.  
  
How invested I  _am_.  
  
On hindsight, perhaps the feeling of community was the reason I didn’t understand quite how scary it would be to switch my life around for someone. Sami was there, EJ stood by her, Kate watched Will’s back, Lucas did all he could, and my parents were behind me all the way.  
  
Will won custody of his child.  
  
And then, because Salem is not a place without its wackjob residents, Nick lost his mind and tried to kidnap the baby.  
  
He got arrested and was sent to prison.  
  
Life felt like it was ready to begin all over again. The bad guy was out of the picture and the baby was going to grow up with loving parents.  
  
How naïve we were to think it would be as easy as that.  
  
…  
  
Arianna Grace was pink as a peach with brown eyes and fair hair.  
  
I fell headlong in love with her the first time I saw Will holding the little bundle in his arms. Perhaps, it was a selfish kind of love. I love her because  _Will_ loves her.  
  
Whatever it is, nobody could deny what a beautiful child she is.  
  
It makes sense, anyway. Gabi is easily one of the most gorgeous women I have met, and Will is  _stunning_. Arianna Grace is one of those really fortunate children who have the best of their parents’ most attractive physical features.  
  
As a baby, she was easy to manage. She was not fussy and she seemed to watch the world with a strange level of maturity in her eyes. It is difficult to explain but whenever she looked at me, it does not feel like she is merely curious. Rather, it feels a lot like she is trying to suss me out, to figure out what my place was in this awkward three-way situation.  
  
When Nick tried to take Arianna Grace away, it broke Gabi’s heart to see how messed up her husband really is. When he was sent to prison, she couldn’t handle the pressure of being a single parent. It was clear that she couldn’t forgive him and Rafe quickly arranged for a divorce lawyer before things got worse.  
  
Gabi didn’t have her mom with her. She only has Rafe. And while he did his very best, it still wasn’t enough.  
  
And that’s when Will decided that it would be best for us to move into the Kiriakis mansion so that we can all support Gabi through this.  
  
Initially, it sounded like a brilliant idea. Will and I would be living in the lapse of luxury without having to pay rent and be in close proximity with his daughter.  
  
After a month though, it became clear to me that this wasn’t as wonderful an idea as I thought.  
  
After a year, I started developing anxiety issues.  
  
….  
  
Gabi doesn’t like me.  
  
I am cool with that because I don’t like her as well, but effectively this puts a wall between us; a wall that inevitably traps Will.  
  
What isn’t so cool about this situation is that Arianna Grace doesn’t like me too.  
  
Will shushes me with a shake of his head and an inhale of exasperated breath every time I bring this up and soon enough, I learn to just not talk about it. It’s not like the kid outright hates me but she doesn’t sit well in my arms and the tenderness that I see in her response to Will and Gabi is distinctly missing when she is with me.  
  
When it becomes clear to Will that this is taking a toll on me, he tries his best to arrange some alone time between me and Arianna Grace so that we can work on building our bond together. Gabi was hesitant – which is normal, I understand, for a new mother to experience separation anxiety – but I am thankful that she finally relented.  
  
Every Wednesday, from 10am to noon, I would have Arianna Grace to myself at the mansion. Will was finishing his last year of college and was busy with his thesis, and Gabi was managing Brady’s pub at that hour. It was just me and Arianna Grace, and every Wednesday, I would prepare something new for us to do together.  
  
She was a bright child and had already picked up on certain words.  She calls Gabi, “Mommy”, Will, “Daddy” and me “Uncle Sonny”. I had insisted that she call me Sonny, but she preferred it with an ‘uncle’ at the front.  It made me feel weirdly old and mouldy, but I shut my trap because it shouldn’t bother me so much. Will pointed out – in a blatant attempt to soothe me – that the ‘uncle’ implied kinship while plain ol’ Sonny would label me as an outsider. It made sense and helped ease some of the anxiety I had, so I embraced the name to my best ability.  
  
I pop in  _Up_  into the DVD player and hope that Arianna Grace would enjoy the movie as much as I did.  
  
As much as I  _do_.  
  
I am such an animated film geek that most of the movies on my DVD deck are cartoons.  
  
Henderson places the cookies and milk (I had begged him not to tell Will) on the table in front of me and Arianna Grace. She grins at him and he taps her nose the way he always does and she waves his hand off with a laugh. He nods at her wisely.  
  
“Hello Miss Anna.”  
  
She gives him a toothy smile, her affection for him clear as day.  
  
“Hello ‘endershun.”  
  
He gives me a reassuring nod and tells us to enjoy the movie. He is about to take his leave before she reaches out to him and tugs his sleeve.  
  
“Come! Stay.”  
  
I feel a sinking feeling through my heart. Words cannot explain how much I wanted Arianna to acknowledge me the way she does Henderson, let alone the way she acts around Will and Gabi.  
  
Henderson gently extracts his sleeve from Arianna’s little fingers and ruffles her hair softly.  
  
“I have to run some errands for your Mommy, Miss Anna.”  
  
It was a clear lie, as far as I know, but it was Henderson’s way of doing me a favour as he knows that Arianna loves her Mommy more than anyone else in the world.  
  
She nods understandingly and waves at him.  
  
“Okay, bye bye ‘endershun.”  
  
He nods and winks at me, an encouragement I really needed, before slipping out of the living room.  
  
I hit ‘Play’ and find a small sense of comfort when Arianna inches a little closer to me as she nibbles her cookie.  
  
…  
  
Perhaps it was a bad idea to give her cookies and let her watch a colourful, fun-paced film.  
  
I let the doubt fade away as I watch her sock-covered feet bounce to the rhythm of her laughter. She has somehow sidled up to my side by now and my arm is carefully around her, hoping she doesn’t feel suffocated or annoyed. Thankfully, she doesn’t seem to even notice the gesture.  
  
At one particularly exciting point in the movie, she even grabs my hand, wide brown eyes flashing at me as she squeals. I laugh out loud, something I have not done in the past months. She momentarily looks surprised at the sound of my laugh, making me realize that this child is even more intuitive than I had thought.  
  
She turns back to the movie and snuggles up next to me.  
  
I don’t dare to move a muscle.  
  
…  
  
At noon sharp, as the credits begin to roll, Gabi enters the living room and I panic a little at the sight of crumbs on the plate in front of us. Gabi and I exchange a look but she doesn’t say anything about the clear evidence of things-that-are-bad-for-Arianna.  
  
Arianna sees her mom and she lights up like wildfire, still hyperactive from the sugar.  
  
“Mommy!”  
  
I am honestly surprised that she didn’t fly out from the sofa and run to her Mommy like she usually does. Instead, she remains by my side and waves her mother over. I see Gabi’s confusion but she quickly schools her face and slides in next to her daughter.  
  
“Hi darling, what are you watching?”  
  
“Up!”  
  
The tenderness is there again, as she grabs the DVD cover and gushes to Gabi about the balloons and the house and the dog and the funny boy and the grumpy old man, and I sit back a little in awe of how much she understands details in the movie. Gabi looks at me over Arianna’s chatter and we smile at each other, genuine pride shared.  
  
Suddenly, Arianna whips her head around to me, pointing to the dog.  
  
“Sonny! I want Dug. Can I? Please?”  
  
Today is a day of back-to-back surprises. I tell myself not to punch the air in happiness that Arianna finally called me without the unappealing ‘uncle’ label. Gabi frowns a little and speaks before I can reply.  
  
“Honey, do you mean ‘dog’?”  
  
Arianna shakes her head, her little blonde pigtails swishing side to side, and grins at her perplexed mother.  
  
“No Mommy, not ‘dog’ – Dug!”  
  
I nod quickly at Gabi, affirming Arianna’s correct use of word.  
  
“The dog is actually called ‘Dug’. But, uh, Gabi you’re right too. Arianna, you want a dog?”  
  
She shakes her head and talks to me slowly.  
  
“No Sonny, not ‘dog’. I want  _Dug_. Please?”  
  
I grin at her earnest face and nod at her, making eye contact with Gabi before she could say no.  
  
“Okay Arianna, I’ll see what I can do.”  
  
…  
  
Before the whole house could explode on me, I hold my hands up at Will and Gabi.  
  
“I know Will’s allergic to every animal in the world, so, no Gabi, I wasn’t going to get Arianna a freaking  _dog_. She wants Dug, not a dog.”  
  
Gabi has her hands on her hips, the protective motherly look utterly becoming on her.  
  
“So what in the world are you going to get her then?”  
  
I hold up a picture on my phone to show her.  
  
“This! It’s a stuffed toy of the cartoon character.  _Relax_ , geez. There’s no way we could manage a dog anyway, even if Will isn’t allergic to everything that is alive and isn’t human.”  
  
He jabs me in the ribs.  
  
“Hey! I am  _not_  allergic to plants or fish.  _Capisce_?”  
  
I repress my urge to laugh, especially not when Gabi is still in a serious mood. I clear my throat.  
  
“ _Capisco, signore Horton_.”  
  
Something sparks in Will’s eyes as he probably recalls one of our more ‘innovative’ nights together.   
  
I see Gabi roll her eyes at us. It’s not even funny anymore how  _everyone_ knows his kink for my ability to speak languages other than English. It suddenly makes me wonder if that was why he ended up with Gabi initially – if he found  _her_ Spanish-speak sexy.   
  
“Uh, hello? Earth to Will and Sonny?”  
  
I turn to look at her and notice the heat in Will’s face.  
  
She groans at us.  
  
“Okay fine, Sonny. You can get Arianna the stuffed dog but please, no more pampering her every request, okay? She’ll have both of you wrapped around her little finger and I am not raising our daughter to be a brat,  _comprendes_?”  
  
If I am warmed inside by how she included me in the equation of “our daughter”, I try not to show it on the big, stupid, smile on my face. Will and I grin at each other before nodding in unison, familiar with this side of Gabi.  
  
“ _Comprendo_ , Mama!”  
  
She hands my phone over to me and leaves the room, shaking her head as though wondering what she got herself into.  
  
Will locks the door after her and plants a deep kiss on my mouth, one hand on my hip, another winding up in my hair. I kiss him back appreciatively, life thrumming under my skin. He murmurs against my lips, his hands already unbuckling my belt.  
  
“Good day today?”  
  
I gasp at his hand stroking me through my jeans.  
  
“The best.”  
  
He smiles at me, desire radiating through his every bone.  
  
“Lucky you, it’s gonna get even better.”  
  
I press my forehead against his, knowing that this is the truth, that only time and effort can make the changes we want in our lives, that Arianna, like everyone, needed time to figure things out.  
  
I hold on to Will and feel the cracks inside me slowly heal themselves.


End file.
